Station-name indicator for radio receivers



J. L. ROUTl N Sept. 8, 1936.

STATION NAME INDICATOR FOR RADIO RECEIVERS Filed Nov. 8, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l Jill/enforn yaw W- MLM 4%,!

Patented Sept. 8, 1936 PATENT OFFICE STATION-NAME INDICATOR FOR RADIO RECEIVERS Joseph Louis Routin, Paris, France Application November 8, 1933, Serial No. 697,222 In France October 11, 1932 2 Claims.

My invention relates to radio receiving sets and more particularly to radio receiving sets in which indications such as the names of the stations to be received are displayed.

My invention is particularly suitable as a logging device, but I am not limited in its adoption to such a device.

An object of the present invention is to improve a radio receiving set of the type referred to in which indications are displayed.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved means for facilitating the reading of the inscriptions of any of a plurality of station names provided in a logging device on a radio receiving set.

To attain these and other objects which will appear more clearly from the following description, I provide on the cabinet of the set a device comprising in combination:

1. A plate on which are inscribed on horizontal equidistant lines the names of a plurality of transmission stations which names are arranged in columns vertical or not;

2. A pointer adapted to move over the surface of said plate in accordance with the position of the tuning member of the radio receiver, said pointer being used over the whole of its length for indicating station names;

3. For each station name a mark (dot, dash or the like) is provided in the vicinity of said station name, the said mark being placed at the intersection of parallel lines with the axis of the pointer supposed to be correctly placed for receiving the said station.

3 The pointer instead of being material may be constituted by the shadow of a material pointer.

The features of the invention will appear more clearly from the reading of the following description based on the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 shows by way of example in a sectional elevation an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a front view of a portion of the device represented in Fig. l, the chassis and the cabinet of the radio receiver being removed";

Fig. 3 shows the arrangement of the station chart.

50 Fig. 4 shows a back view of a removable frame on which the station chart is reniovably mounted.

In all figures of the accompanying drawings, I designates the front wall of the cabinet housing a radio receiver; 2 designates a. metallic support 55 for a number of elements hereinafter described.

This supporting plate 2 is fixed to the chassis 3 of the radio receiver by a threaded rod and bolt 4; 5 is a driving axis which is mounted on the supporting plate 2 and which drives by friction through the medium of a spring 6 the disc 1 which '5. in turn is fixed on the axis 8 of the adjustable condensers of the radio receiver; 9 designates a rod fixed on the disc I; this rod passes through an opening provided in the supporting plate 2 and by acting on the longitudinal slot H, permits the 1 driving of a primary lever l0 freely mounted on the driving axis 5 of the adjustable condenser; I 2 is a secondary lever which may also rotate about the axis 5 and which carries an arcuate slot I3 on which is mounted a fixing bolt I4 riveted on the primary lever l0; by tightening a nut l5, the primary and secondary levers l0 and I2 are fixed one to the other; I6'is a pointer fixed to the secondary lever l2 by means of a screw I! in such a way that its position may be adjusted with re- 20 gard to the front wall I of the cabinet; l8 designates an electric lamp mounted on the best portion of pointer l6; l9 designates a removable frame mounted in an opening provided in the front wall of the cabinet.

Fig. 3 shows the way in which the station names are arranged on the plate so as to form a station chart.

The names of the long-wave transmitting stations (which are in small number) have been inscribed in a column placed on the left-hand side of the plate, to each station name has been associated a distinguishing sign or mark which has been chosen to occupy a small amount of space and to be very easy to draw. For instance the signs indicated below may be used:

The position to be given to the pointer for longwave stations is indicated by a. sign correspond- 40 ing to the station name desired, which sign is placed for instance, on a horizontal line AB 10- s cated at the bottom of the board.

The station names for short-waves are inscribed on the board in the following way:-

The three first columns of the plate or station chart correspond respectively to the wave-lengths 200-250 m 250-300 m., 300-350 m. The inscriptions have been made in these-columns according to increasing Wave-lengths from the bottom of the column. On the contrary, in the 4 following columns which correspond respectively to the wave-lengths 350-400 m., 400-450 m., 450-500 m., 500-550 m., the station names have been written 2 according to increasing wave-lengths, starting from the top of each column.

The marking of the station names in the shortwave band is made by means of a mark (for instance a point, a dash, etc.) placed at the intersection of a horizontal line which would be traced immediately underneath or above each station name, with the axis of the marking index supposed correctly placed for receiving the said station. It goes without saying that it is suificient that the marks associated with a station name be placed in the vicinity of the corresponding station name instead of rigorously as indicated above.

For associating a mark with a station name, use may be made, for instance, of a link, as is done in industrial drawings, for associating with a given part of the drawing a figure or mark referred to in the description.

In the present case, a colour scheme may be resorted to for the same purpose, the colours being distributed so that each group constituted by a name and the mark associated therewith are of the same colour, and are surrounded by groups of names and marks of different colours. The two above described ways (associating links and colour schemes) may be combined. Alternatively the station names may be written in difierent characters (thick and thin) and the marks should then be chosen to offer a sufficient degree of analogy with the letters composing the said station names.

The inscriptions concerning the short-waves will preferably be made in utilizing alternatively two different colours, and the columns will be, preferably, equally spaced.

The device described above has numerous advantages and particularly the followingz-The whole surface of the plate carrying station names is utilized and the board is of a very clear and esthetic appearance. On the other hand, the mechanism used for driving the pointer 16 is very simple, rugged and cheap. The plate being removable and directly mounted on the frame of the chassis of the set, the calibration of the board, that is to say the setting on the plate of the marks in the vicinity of the station names may be made before the chassis is introduced into the radio cabinet.

Amongst the numerous alternatives which may be restorted to the following may be mentioned:

(1) The station names corresponding to long wave stations may be written directly on one or several horizontal and parallel lines of the plate or alternatively the names of such long wase stations may be distributed amongst the names of short wave stations whilst reserving equal distances between the parallel lines on which said names are written.

It is clear that in this case it will not be necessary to provide a permanent angular displacement between the axis of the primary lever ill and the axis of the pointer l6.

(2) The mobile lamp l8 could be replaced by a stationary lamp which should be placed, preferably at a sufiicient distance from the plate carrying station names, so that the shadow of pointer [6 remains clear in any of its positions.

(3) The pointer l6 could have a translation movement instead of a rotary one, as previously described. For instance, the pointer l6 could be fixed on a member to which a translation movement is imparted by the tuning member of the radio receiver through a pulley drive. In this case, the pointer could be vertical, but preferabl inclined in order to cover the whole width of a column.

Assuming that the pointer is moved from the left to the right-hand side and that this movement corresponds to increasing the received wave length and assuming also that the station names are written according to increasing wave-lengths from top to bottom of the column, the pointer will be preferably mounted so as to remain parallel to the diagonal of a column which joins the bottom left-hand corner to the upper righthand corner of said column.

The plate could be placed at the back of the pointer and in this case the lamp [8 could be fixed.

The distinguishing signs used for the stations comprised in the long-wave band could be replaced by any other suitable sign such as figures, letters, etc. Other alternatives could be resorted to without departing from the present invention. the bottom left-hand corner to the upper right- What is claimed is:

1. In a radio receiver, a device adapted to indicate automatically the names of the stations received, comprising in combination: a plate on which a plurality of names of transmitting stations is inscribed in columns and on equidistant horizontal lines, said plate consisting of a translucent sheet having the station names printed on it and mounted between two translucent sheets; marks inscribed on said plate, each mark being associated with and preferably located adjacent to one of said station names and one of said parallel equidistant lines; a pointer; a tuning member operatively connected with said pointer so as to move the latter over the surface of said plate; a frame carrying said plate and adapted to be easily removed from the radio cabinet, said pointer being arranged behind said frame; and a lamp arranged behind said pointer, whereby the shadow of said pointer is thrown on to said inscribed translucent sheet.

2. A device for use in radio receivers for indicating automatically the names of the stations received and constituting a unit adapted to be fitted to any radio receiver, comprising in combination: an indicating plate on which station names are inscribed and which is readily detachable from the radio receiver; a pointer pivoted to the frame of the radio receiver and adapted to move over said plate to give indications; a tuning member associated with said pointer to cause turning movement thereof; tuning condensers; a friction drive for said condensers associated with said plate and said tuning member, said pointer being adapted to turn through an angle of about 60 when the axle of the tuning member turns by an amount equivalent to an angle of and supporting means upon which said pointer is adjustably mounted in such manner as to be adjustable in the direction of its turning movement and on the other hand in a direction perpendicular to said plate.

JOSEPH LOUIS ROUTIN. 

